Week 4 Done

Photo by Nandhu Kumar from Pexels

I completed Week 4 today. The fact I'm able to write that demonstrates that I'm a fitter person than I was 3 weeks ago, when running for 5 uninterrupted minutes would have been impossible. Week 4's requirements were:

Run 5 walk 3 x 4
Run 5 walk 3 x 3
Run 5 walk 3 x 5

I wasn't all that enthusiastic about running today. For a start I was running into quite a strong headwind, which impedes progress and can be quite demoralising. It also makes it harder to breathe, so my first couple of intervals were very challenging. However, once my body got accustomed to the idea of running, and I reached a more sheltered bit of road, things became a bit easier. My right leg was feeling it by the end of the run though. After more research I found that runners actively encourage training in headwinds as 'resistance training' to make you a stronger runner, so maybe it did me good after all?

While I'm seeing some positive results from my training, I'm also seeing how dreadfully unbalanced I am, in terms of the impact running is having on my body.

It was clear from my treadmill running (see video below) that my right leg is doing a lot more work than my left. My right shin was in agony whilst my left was fine.

 

Upon further investigation there have been more warning signs that might right side is taking most of the flak. My fiance came out with me again recently to film me running and he commented that my right foot is audibly hitting the ground harder than my left.

On my first run of the week, my right leg fatigued before the left one on the home stretch, and on close examination of the insoles of my walking shoes, the right one shows significantly greater wear and tear than my left, so clearly this is a problem when I walk too.

One of the problems highlighted by the video footage is that my hips drop when my feet impact the floor (quite obvious in the last video). The fancy name for this is the Trendelenburg Gait and it is an indicator of weak gluteus medius muscles on the side of the stance leg (both sides in my case, but worse on the right).

More work to be done.